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BBCOR - Love it don't you!

I'm glad to see the era of technology in bats (BESR) finally coming to an end. The technology that made most coaches forget about teaching correct hitting fundamentals and gave players a false sense of security because the bats had become so unrealistically forgiving. Please read the article Ahhh...the BBCOR bat.

There is definitely a lot of truth in the fact that hitters were helped by the use of bats that performed substantially better than wood. But let’s draw an analogy here to see if we can’t better describe what took place.

Assume wood bats are like a typical family sedan. That would make non-wood bats equate to automobiles that perform better than that typical one, but there would be different gradients. FI, a mid-level, mid-priced BESER bat might equate to a fairly high quality performance car like a standard Corvette, but then there would also be the “super bats” that would equate to a Bugatti Veyron.

Just like all cars that perform better than a typical family sedan, won’t go 258 MPH or need tires that cost in excess of $20,000 for a set and only last 10,000 miles, not every bat used by every player was a super-hot, rolled composite that was launching balls the way the Veyron’s power plant launches it from 0 to 60 in less than 2.5 seconds. IOW, not all players were using super-bats, and certainly using a super-bat didn’t insure hitting success, any more than putting me in an Indy car would make me a good Indy car driver.

Batters still had put the bat in the correct place to take advantage of the performance benefits, so although the bat definitely could help once it met a ball, it wasn’t as though a batter didn’t’ need any skills at all.

And if non-wood performs almost the same as wood, why is wood so preferable?

Last edited by scorekeeper; 04-25-2012 at 04:30 PM.

The pitcher who’s afraid to throw strikes, will soon be standing in the shower with the hitter who's afraid to swing.

And if no-wood performs almost the same as wood, why is wood so preferable?

I obviously can't speak for everybody, but I would prefer wood because it gives a feel as to the way the game was meant to be played. The sound of the ball off a wooden bat is much more pleasurable than that of the broken bottle sound you get from the new BBCOR bats. When baseball was created centuries ago all they used was wood up until basically the 70s, why not keep using it? I've always enjoyed wood, but have used metal to keep up with everybody else using metal.

I obviously can't speak for everybody, but I would prefer wood because it gives a feel as to the way the game was meant to be played. The sound of the ball off a wooden bat is much more pleasurable than that of the broken bottle sound you get from the new BBCOR bats. When baseball was created centuries ago all they used was wood up until basically the 70s, why not keep using it? I've always enjoyed wood, but have used metal to keep up with everybody else using metal.

In tennis also anybody was using wood. nowadays anyone plays with super powered and lightweight space material rackets which made tennis a totally different game.

I now have my own non commercial blog about training for batspeed and power using my training experience in baseball and track and field.

I obviously can't speak for everybody, but I would prefer wood because it gives a feel as to the way the game was meant to be played. The sound of the ball off a wooden bat is much more pleasurable than that of the broken bottle sound you get from the new BBCOR bats. When baseball was created centuries ago all they used was wood up until basically the 70s, why not keep using it? I've always enjoyed wood, but have used metal to keep up with everybody else using metal.

Its completely understandable that there will always be those who prefer wood for various reasons, and the people who prefer wood are entitled to that opinion. Truth be told, having grown up and played all of my ball prior to non-woods even being legal, I’d prefer wood be the only bat available myself. In fact, I’d much rather persimmon was the only legal club head for woods, and hickory the only legal shafts for clubs. The same goes for tennis, pole vaulting, and I can’t even guess how many other sports where what was once wood equipment has changed.

But the reason I prefer wood is that it placed a premium on skill, not because it sounded or looked more pleasing, because those reasons are completely aesthetic and add nothing to the game of any real value. What would a deaf person care if when bat met ball it sounded like a Christoph Paccard church bell or the plop of donkey dung falling in a barnyard? To you, the sound of wood meeting leather wrapped string is what its all about. All I care about is that no player can buy an advantage, and that’s what BBCOR has brought the game closer to.

What BBCOR also brings, is the ability for those of you who prefer to use wood, to do it without having to give away much of an advantage, if any, to those who prefer non-wood. So I’d think everyone who loves the intrinsic game would embrace the BBCORs, rather than to keep taking these continual shots at them for no real substantive reason. Heck, the only folks I can see who hate the BBCOR standard, are those who believe the game is more pleasurable to play and watch, when every player, no matter how well or poorly skilled, can jack a bomb at any time off of any pitcher.

The pitcher who’s afraid to throw strikes, will soon be standing in the shower with the hitter who's afraid to swing.